


Why Storms Are Named After People

by space_squirrel



Series: Warrior Daughter [5]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Flash Fic, MEflashfanwork, November 2016, Rain, Vancouver
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-09-03 01:44:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8691637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/space_squirrel/pseuds/space_squirrel
Summary: Kaidan missed the rain.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for November's ME Flash Fic challenge, theme: rain.

Kaidan missed the rain.

Oh, there were many things he missed about Earth - his mother's cooking, for one - but he missed the rain the most.

Growing up in Vancouver had been a little like growing up in a perpetual rain cloud. It was not unusual to go days without seeing the sun, especially in the fall when grey skies and muddy boots were commonplace.

Over the years, he had become accustomed to listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the roof, familiar with way orchard sprang to life with the rain, used to the dewy scent of apples and grass seeping through the house after a downpour.

His childhood had not been easy, what with his biotics manifesting at an early age. His struggle to conceal that shameful fact had resulted in him being labelled a loner, the kind that other kids had mercilessly picked on.

Kaidan would never have admitted the torment to his parents back then, instead choosing to spend hours tucked away in his attic room working on his model ships. He dreamed of flying up, up above the dreary Vancouver skies and beyond, far away from the taunts and laughter.

He finally got his chance at 14, though not quite the way he had envisioned it, when two strangers in suits showed up at the orchard and whisked him away to Jump Zero for a newly created biotic training program. His mother had cried, his father unable to look him in the eye as they shipped him off.

And years later, when he returned from brain camp, broken and lost, it had been that familiar sound of rain on the roof that soothed him to sleep each and every night, keeping the demons at bay.

In his darkest hours, the rain had comforted him in a way nothing else could: after all, his mother used to say, you can't have a rainbow without a little rain... and the rainbows always shine the brightest after a storm.

That was another thing Kaidan often missed. There was nothing quite like sitting on his parents porch, beer in hand, watching the clouds roll and light up as a rare storm slowly moved across the coast. Even the clearest summer day could end with a storm: some fierce, raging and howling; others small but mighty.

 _'Like Shepard'_ , he thought absently, considering how the woman --  _'no,'_ he corrected mentally, shaking his head -- considering how his _commanding officer_ was not unlike a storm.

She worked her way into the hearts and lives of those who knew her, her electric personality and short temper drawing people in despite the risk of getting shocked.

He knew it was dangerous to fall in love with a storm of a woman, that it was highly unlikely he would come out unscathed.

Yet here he was. He just couldn't help it. Despite her prickly exterior and standoffish nature, he was falling for her hard and fast. He knew it was a stupid idea, that she was his commanding officer, that she was rumoured to be as ruthless with love as she was in battle, operating with a cold and calculating efficiency that would make the devil himself shudder.

But that was part of what drew him to her, like a moth to a flame. And oh did she burn, brightly and fiercely like a fire that could not be extinguished. She crackled to life on the battle field, eyes wild, all thunder and lightening. And once she had finished what she came to do, destroyed what needed destroying, she left; but left death and destruction in her wake.

And Kaidan, god help him, found that exhilarating.

So though he might miss Vancouver's grey and misty skies, and though he might miss the smell of apples in the rain, and the way the drops sound as they hit the tin roof of the barn, one thing was certain: as long as Sophie Shepard was around, he wasn't sure it was possible to miss the storms.

**Author's Note:**

> Vancouver is Canada's third most rainy city, so you kind of have to like the rain to love it there. One thing I've noticed in the ME world is how so many fics focus on the snow aspect of Kaidan's Canadian heritage, when in reality Vancouver is rainy, rainy, rainy. Sure, they get snow - especially the Greater Vancouver area, and in the mountains, but it's not at all like the level the rest of Canada tends to see. So when I saw the prompt for rain, uh, yesterday (I'm new to this whole thing!) I knew I had to word vomit this out.


End file.
